DeSantis’ 2024 Debut Fox News Interview Brings in Middling Ratings
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While DeSantis’s first campaign TV interview drew nearly 2 million viewers, it was still a far cry from what Tucker brought in for that hour on any given night.
Following his botched Twitter campaign launch on Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared on Fox News to discuss his long-anticipated run for the White House. With MAGA viewers still boycotting the conservative network for firing Tucker Carlson, however, DeSantis’ big primetime rollout of his 2024 bid fell short—at least by historic Fox standards—in viewership. Appearing in Carlson’s old time slot, DeSantis’ interview with guest-host Trey Gowdy pulled in 1.96 million total viewers and 186,000 in the key advertising demographic of viewers aged 25 to 54. While the interview pulled in high enough ratings to defeat Fox News’ cable-news rivals at 8 p.m. across the board, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes nearly beat it in the demo. Furthermore, the rest of Fox’s evening programming also rated higher among the 25-54 crowd. The interview, which featured Gowdy poking fun at DeSantis’ Twitter “crash,” did draw the network’s highest total viewership at 8 p.m. since the night of Carlson’s exit last month. At the same time, though, Carlson averaged 3.26 million viewers overall last quarter—1.3 million more than what DeSantis’ interview nabbed. In fact, since Carlson’s ouster, Fox has seen its ratings—especially in primetime—plummet as pro-Trump rival Newsmax’s audience has surged. Former President Donald Trump and his supporters, meanwhile, have gleefully mocked DeSantis’ “rough” Twitter announcement—and trashed Fox News hosts who have expressed support for the Florida governor.
